Mark Hay

I am a Brooklyn-based freelance writer. I usually cover sex, desire, and the businesses built around them—from porn economics to sex toy cybersecurity to prophylactic innovations, and beyond. I have written for over 30 publications, including Aeon, Complex, Details,...

I am a Brooklyn-based freelance writer. I usually cover sex, desire, and the businesses built around them—from porn economics to sex toy cybersecurity to prophylactic innovations, and beyond. I have written for over 30 publications, including Aeon, Complex, Details, The Economist’s Baobab Blog, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, New Yorker Online, Playboy, and VICE. I hold degrees from Columbia University and the University of Oxford. Neither of them specifically relate to sex and sexuality, but I try to apply the social science tools I picked up at those institutions to these too often neglected or trivialized fields. If you have any suggestions for sex-related topics I should look into in the future, please feel free to email me. Most of my coverage involves American and European companies, individuals, and projects, but I am always willing to delve into stories further afield as well.

Lina Misitzis and Jon Ronson's new podcast series, "The Last Days of August," explores the circumstances that lead to the death of porn star August Ames. In the process, they highlight (and contextualize) some of the messier experiences people can have within the adult industry.

This year was a mixed bag of heartening sex trends like the MeToo movement and the space it opened for nuanced conversations about sexual abuse and consent, and worrying developments like the rapid acceleration of censorship on sexual speech and activities online.

The furry subculture is so stigmatized that some participants don't want to broadcast their participation in it too openly. Yet over the last few years, a number of mainstream companies and organizations have commissioned furry suit makers to craft their new mascots.

Some evidence suggests that, over the course of a decade, more and more couples have started going to America's legal brothels together. This major demographic shift is rooted in a surprising mixture of mundane and profound developments.